U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon will seek a peace deal within a year from Cypriot leaders engaged in reunification talks on Thursday, a source close to the matter said, signalling growing frustration with a slow process that is harming Turkey's EU ambitions, according to Reuters. Leaders of the estranged Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities have been locked in rounds of negotiations to reunify Cyprus for almost four years, the latest of many previously ill-fated attempts to piece together an island riven by ethnic violence and war. Ban was scheduled to meet President Demetris Christofias, the Greek Cypriot leader, and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu in Geneva on Thursday. Another meeting with the leaders was possible in September, and Ban could also announce he was preparing a report to the Security Council on the state of play in Cyprus negotiations, the source said. He was expected to seek a commitment from the two that they would ramp up Cyprus-based talks, held in a United Nations compound which forms part of a buffer zone splitting Greek and Turkish Cypriots since a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek inspired coup. The U.N. wants the two sides to adopt a roadmap for progress and resolve outstanding issues in 12 months, concerned that any momentum could fizzle out when Cyprus takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union on July 1 2012. -- SPA
